


Persistent Valentine

by LinksLipsSinkShips



Series: Everlasting Love [3]
Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Fluff, a tiny bit of angst, still kind of a gay debbie macomber tbh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-01
Updated: 2018-02-01
Packaged: 2019-03-12 08:02:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13543155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LinksLipsSinkShips/pseuds/LinksLipsSinkShips
Summary: The newly-engaged Link knows how special the holidays are for his fiance, the ever-festive Rhett. But when Rhett's not acting like himself, Link wonders if he can save Valentine's Month for them, or if maybe they're just not meant-to-be.





	Persistent Valentine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Recommended Listening:
> 
> Your Song- Elton John  
> Kiss Me- Sixpence None the Richer  
> You Make It Easy- Jason Aldean  
> Hungry Eyes- Eric Carmen  
> I Got You Babe- Sonny and Cher

The website very clearly said “easy.” It was why Link had selected that particular recipe from that particular site. The website said nothing about the smoke detector going off. It said nothing about cakes falling in the middle, nothing about what to do with the charred remains of an overcooked cake, and nothing about what to do if you accidentally pour the batter in the wrong sized pan and don’t realize it until your cake is undercooked in the middle.

“Crap, dang it!” Link muttered. He waved a towel in front of the smoke detector, trying desperately to get it to shut off. Without any success, he moved to open the door to the apartment he shared with Rhett, then moved toward the window, opening it to let chilly early February air inside, creating a cross breeze. He returned to his fanning efforts, trying to fan toward the window now, and finally, the smoke detector stopped screaming. Link wasn’t risking closing the window quite yet, no matter how chilly it was, because he wasn’t about to listen to the obnoxious chirping for another ten minutes.

If things got any worse with the dessert he was attempting to make, he’d have to run to Trader Joe’s for more cake mixes. If he did that, he figured he may as well just pick up a store-bought dessert, maybe a box of Joe Joes, and call it good. He wasn’t cut out for this, no matter how hard he tried.

All he’d wanted was to make Valentine’s Day special. Or, not Valentine’s Day specifically, but the first day of Valentine’s Month. With Rhett, holidays were never a day-long thing. Since they’d met during that first Christmas season, Link had come to realize holidays with Rhett meant weeks or even a month of celebrating.

The previous Valentine’s Day, their first together, he’d made every night with Link incredible, all fourteen days leading up to the main event. Small gifts, tokens of his love and appreciation for Link, romantic candlelit picnics in the living room… he’d done it all. For Halloween, they’d decorated in September, going all-out to have a spooky door planned for the trick or treaters, and an even spookier “lights out” blacklight party with all of their friends that had taken them a month of effort to plan. Link was surprised that Rhett didn’t go all-out for some obscure holiday like National Hat Day or something, solely because it was the kind of thing that mattered to Rhett, making life better by celebrating special moments.

Until last Valentine’s Day, Link had thought the holiday was just some dumb invention designed to sell more cards during what was otherwise a lull. And to be honest, it likely was. But Rhett had made Link feel special for fourteen amazing days, or rather, for the entire past year and two months they’d been together, but especially in those fourteen days. And now, Link had the opportunity to pay Rhett back, to surprise him with something special on the first day of Valentine’s month, to woo his man by doing something Rhett would never expect: making dessert.

And he was failing. Miserably.

Link carefully read the instructions over again.  _ How did I even screw up a boxed mix?  _ Carefully, Link followed the words on the back of the box to the letter. He’d even gotten out a ruler to make sure the pan he was using was the correct size. He placed it in the oven, held his breath, and sat in front of it with the oven light on to make sure it was baking just right.

Finally, five discarded cakes and two small wrist burns into the entire process, Link had a cake. It wasn’t necessarily the prettiest cake, but Link had intentionally chosen a recipe that didn’t call for a pretty cake. He just needed an edible one. This looked like it was going to work just fine.

Link pulled out his phone to find no messages. It was unlike Rhett to not return Link’s messages, not like him to be quiet for so long. Rhett’s job as a TA allowed him the flexibility to text sometimes while grading papers, and when he was in his own classes, he’d instant message Link sweet nothings throughout the day. But Rhett had been silent for a couple of hours now, and Link was getting one step closer to sending out a search party to make sure he was still alive. “You okay?” Link tapped into his phone. He placed it on the counter and let the screen dim, then black out completely before he looked away from it, smiling over the cute picture of he and Rhett cuddled up together in a blanket fort, twinkling lights above their heads.

For a moment, Link considered pointing a fan at the cake to make it cool faster so he could finish making the dessert. Then he worried doing so would just cause it to collapse entirely or somehow ruin it, so he walked away. His baking skills weren’t strong enough for him to risk putting a fan near the cake unless the box specifically said “Place Fan Near Cake.”

Instead, he focused on the rest of the things he wanted to prepare before Rhett came home. He carefully taped red, white, and pink streamers down the front of the door in stripes, making a patterned background against the plain wood grain. They’d taken down decorations from New Year’s two weeks after it had ended, and it had been killing Rhett to have a bare door since.

Link was prepared to remedy that, not just with streamers, but with paper hearts. As he searched the apartment for scissors, though, he came up with exactly one pair of safety scissors and nothing else. For a moment, he wondered why they even had safety scissors -- they didn’t have any kids running around that might get hurt with normal ones, not yet anyway -- until he remembered the time he’d cut his ring finger so deep he’d needed stitches. He had been trying to cut paper straws shorter for the fourth of July party that summer, trying to make them fit the glasses they’d bought. His hand slipped, and before he knew it, they were running late to their own event just because Link hadn’t quite mastered the art of scissors yet. He didn’t blame Rhett for buying safety scissors as a joke after that, and it was his own suggestion that they hide the other scissors so he wouldn’t cut himself again. But now, trying to cut construction paper, he cursed the decision and thought risking a cut might have been the better choice after all.

He made what he had work, though, cutting out paper hearts. They weren’t nearly as good as he figured Rhett could have made them, since Rhett had far more practice, but he couldn’t exactly ask Rhett for help making a surprise for… Rhett. So he painstakingly cut them, holding them up for a moment to admire his work before stacking them on the table in front of him.

Opening the box of candy hearts he’d bought earlier, he shook a few onto the table. “Kiss Me.” That was cute. He copied it onto one of the hearts he’d cut out. “Call Me.” He wrote that down, then remembered to check his phone. There was still no text from Rhett, no missed calls or instant messages. Part of him wondered if Rhett didn’t answer because he was planning something special for Link, too. After all, it was the first day of Valentine’s Month. Link just hoped he’d get a chance to get his surprise in before Rhett whisked him away to something special instead. Link picked up another candy heart. “Let’s Get Busy.” He chuckled to himself and penned the words onto the paper heart in front of him. He wouldn’t be hanging that one on the door, that was for sure, but he had plans to leave it on Rhett’s pillow later regardless. Link picked up a candy heart and ate it, instantly regretting the decision as the chalky candy flavor coated his tongue. He finished writing, then discarded the rest of the box directly into the trash.

As he taped the hearts to the door, he wondered if Rhett would like them.  _ Who am I kidding? It’s cheesy and cute. Of course he will. _

Link had gotten progressively more passionate about celebrating holidays after celebrating them with Rhett over the past year, but he still wasn’t fully sold on Rhett’s the-cheesier-the-better aesthetic. Paper hearts were definitely Rhett’s thing, though, and Link wasn’t doing this for himself. He was trying to make this the best Valentine’s Day Rhett had ever had, and that meant paper hearts were a definite need.

By the time the door looked good, and Link had scattered silk rose petals from the bedroom door to the bathroom, where he’d put a new bottle of a special chocolate-covered-strawberry scented body wash, he realized enough time had passed for the cake to be cool.

It almost pained him to crumble it, having perfected it after so many mistakes, but if the recipe called for a crumbled cake, by god he was going to crumble the cake. He spooned it carefully into the small glass jars, layering cake with cherries and more cake.

He studied the recipe on the website, scrolling to figure out if he was supposed to put the Cool Whip on  _ now  _ or if he was supposed to do it when he planned to serve it. He hadn’t found the answer yet when the door swung open, Rhett’s face focused on the cell phone in his hand.

“Sorry, hon, I just noticed your text as I was getting out of the car.” He nudged the door open with his foot, sliding the phone into his pocket before catching sight of the decor. He’d totally missed it before that, so focused on the phone, his keys, and not dropping the food in his hands. “Oh my gosh! You decorated! I love it.” He stepped behind Link, kissing behind his ear and placing his messenger bag on the counter along with the Chinese takeout he’d promised to pick up before leaving for school that morning. Link knew he wasn’t capable of making dinner  _ and  _ dessert and figured if Rhett would grab Chinese food, he could handle the rest.

Link’s careful preparation of the dessert caught Rhett’s eye. “What’s the occa-- oh  _ crap! _ ”

Link jumped, turning around and looking for the problem. Had Rhett hurt himself? Had Link left the stove on and stated a small apartment fire? When he found nothing alarming, he focused on Rhett. “What’s wrong?”

“Baby, I am  _ so  _ sorry. I didn’t… I didn’t even realize. Oh hon, I forgot it was February 1st. I thought I still had another couple of days.” Rhett placed his head in his hands, leaning against the counter in front of him. It was unlike him to ever forget a holiday, and Link placed the spoon down, stopped working on the dessert, and walked around the counter to smooth his hand on Rhett’s back.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Link soothed. “I planned something, see? As a surprise to you. It’s not like we’re going to miss the first day of Valentine’s month.” Link moved Rhett’s hands off of his face, then put his finger on Rhett’s chin and turned his face toward him, meeting his eyes. “It’s just a day, Rhett. One day like any other day in the more than 365 we’ve spent together. And you’ve made every single one of those days special, whether you had something exciting planned or not. You have to let me do this once in awhile. And see? It’s ready, it’s all okay.”

Rhett nodded, leaning forward to kiss Link. His words must have had some effect, because Link could feel the tension melting from Rhett’s jaw, could hear his breath calm as they kissed, greeted each other properly after a quiet day apart. As Link broke the kiss, he leaned back to give a small wink. “I’m almost done with dessert. Can we eat it before takeout?” It sounded like a childish request, eating dessert first, but Link was too excited to wait until after dinner. Rhett laughed and agreed -- dessert first seemed like a great idea -- and Link carefully spooned Cool Whip onto the cake. He sprinkled small heart sprinkles on top, then picked the jars up carefully.

Link didn’t offer one to Rhett, instead setting both jars at his own place at the table.

“Don’t I get one? They look so good!” Rhett protested. Link pulled out a spoon, digging down deep to make sure he was getting cake, cherries, and Cool Whip in one bite. He looked at Rhett and smiled.

“Sure you do. But it’s your day, and I don’t want you to have to work for the first bite.” Rhett smiled, opening his mouth wide as Link spooned the mixture into his mouth, cupping his hand under Rhett’s chin in case any of the crumbled cake fell.

“Gosh, Link, that’s really good,” Rhett reached for the spoon, plucking it out of Link’s hand to take another bite. Before either of them knew it, they’d both polished off every bit. As Link stood to grab the takeout that had been sitting on the counter, Rhett thought about how lucky he was. In spite of forgetting one of the days that meant most to him in the year, the person he loved more than anything managed to make him feel better about it. And not just that, he’d salvaged the day, made it special and memorable. Link placed the takeout containers between them, passing Rhett a pair of chopsticks.

“Happy first day of Valentine’s month, Rhett.”

“Thank you for making it special,” Rhett responded. He wasn’t sure how he’d gotten so lucky, but he was definitely never going to take it for granted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Recommended Recipe:
> 
> Black Forest Cups
> 
> 1 unfrosted chocolate cake, cooled and crumbled  
> 1 jar cherry pie filling  
> 1 container Cool Whip  
> Sprinkles if you wanna
> 
> Fill a small jar with chocolate cake crumbles until it is 1/3 full.  
> Add cherry pie filling until the container is a total of 2/3 full.  
> Fill 'er up with chocolate cake crumbles to the top of the jar.  
> Add a little dollop of Cool Whip on top, then go all Sprinkle Bae on those treats and serve to your sweetie (or yourself. I don't judge).


End file.
